My Fundraising Page

Well, here we are! I will log my last long run this weekend (16-17 miles, whew!!) before I start my two-week taper before the marathon which is just TWO WEEKS from Sunday! Amazing!

Dave and I held a super fun trivia night on Wednesday at Mustang Sally's. I want to give a shoutout to everyone who came and played and donated to our event. It meant to much to us. I also want to give a huge thanks to the bar, which has been so wonderful to us!

The fundraising clock is also counting down. I will need to raise the rest of my funds before this coming Wednesday, October 26! I have just $229.80 left to go. If you were thinking of donating, now is the time. :)

It’s been about three weeks or so since I wrote my last post about the need to listen to your body and the patience that goes along with that. Happily, I took my own advice and since I last wrote have been going to physical therapy for my hip issues. I feel pretty great now! The pain is not 100% gone, but it is nowhere near where it was. For the past week or so, I have been using the anti-gravity treadmill at the PT place – seriously, it is like running on the moon, it’s crazy – and last night, I am thrilled to report, I ran my first 3 miles back on solid ground in about a month. I took it easy and walked a bit, but all in all, it felt great. Hurrah!!

I’ll admit, I thought about not going to practice last night. I was nervous and scared of running, as silly as that might sound. Scared I was starting up again too soon, and that I would re-injure myself all over again. My doubt and fear almost kept me sidelined on the couch last night. But, thanks to some much-needed encouragement from my mom (thanks, mom!) I went home after work, put my running gear on, and headed out the door. When I arrived at practice, my Queens teammates all cheered and gave me hugs. It was one of the best feelings I have ever had.

Today marks 40 days until the NYC Marathon. The road ahead may be difficult, as I rebuild my running, one mile at a time. There may be some pain, and I may need to go slower than I would like. There will surely be ups and downs, but, I am not going to give up. As my coach pointed out last night, this may not be the best marathon I’ve ever had, time-wise, but I will get there. If anything, I know I am emerging stronger from this whole experience, injury setbacks and all. I know when I cross the finish line on November 6th, it will be that much sweeter as a result.

Speaking of finish lines, I want to give a shoutout to Finish Line Physical Therapy. I wouldn’t be where I am right now were it not for them. Everyone there is awesome, and I can’t recommend them highly enough. If you happen to be reading this and need a PT, check them out at http://www.finishlinept.com/.

The theme of the last post was patience, and this one will be support. I couldn’t be doing this without the support of my amazing coaches and teammates, and all of my friends and family. Thank you all so much.

Time is really flying, here it is, Labor Day already and just about 61 days until the marathon! It's been a while since I updated this so here I am!

The last month or so has taught me a lot about what this kind of training is all about. I've learned, somewhat against my will, some very important lessons about being patient and taking care of my body that I will carry with me for a long time. Most importantly, I've had a great support network around me cheering me on after all of my doubts about still being able to do this thing. I have to give a shoutout to my wonderful husband who has been my number one cheerleader all the way!

After an awesome run through Summer Streets on August 6th, I felt great. I was a bit behind on my mileage thanks to out-of-town travel the previous two weekends, but I wanted to prove to myself that I could still do 10 miles. And I could! Then, at our hill training on Tuesday the 8th, as I was zooming up the hill at Astoria Park as fast as I could, I felt something in my left hip move in a funny way. That's weird, I thought, so I slowed down for the rest of the workout - in retrospect I probably should have stopped right then and there. For the last few weeks, the hip pain has been nagging me, forcing me to cut long runs short and take a couple weeks off almost entirely from running.

The other night, after two weeks of resting, foam rolling, icing and feeling frustrated, I was lying in bed and had thoroughly convinced myself that this was going to keep me from the dream of completing the marathon...that I was so behind in my mileage now that I'd never catch up, etc etc etc. I really had a big old pity party, party of one. Poor poor me!

Then, I thought about my friend who I am running in memory of, and everything he had to go through every day fighting lymphoma. I don't ever remember him complaining once. I resolved to myself at that moment a few things: 1) that it was time to stop beating myself up about something beyond my control; 2) that I *have* to listen to my body and do what it needs so that I can be in the best shape on November 6th; and 3) that I even if I have to walk the entire 26.2 miles, I am going to finish this marathon, and I am going to do it with a smile on my face.

This week, I am going to see a sports PT that my coach recommended, and maybe do a very short run here and there. One day at a time is my new motto! The next 61 days are going to be a challenge for sure, but I am ready for it!

It's hard to believe that a month has already gone by since I started my training for the NYC Marathon, but here we are! June was kind of a crazy month, but Dave and I managed to host a successful fundraiser (thanks to everyone who came!), get in our twice-weekly workouts and follow our long run schedule to get our mileage slowly inching upward.

Just this morning, we ran a loop from Astoria Park, where our Queens group meets, south to 36th Avenue, and over the little bridge to Roosevelt Island. We ran a full loop of Roosevelt Island (about 4 miles around) and then back to Astoria Park. The Roosevelt Island loop is quickly becoming one of my favorite runs - for one, you get to run all the entire perimeter of an island, which feels like a real accomplishment even though the island itself is pretty tiny. For two, you get to run across an awesome little bridge and up to an adorable lighthouse. It doesn't feel like you're in NYC at all. The whole loop from Astoria Park and back is about 7.2 miles. The whole thing took about an hour and a half, which isn't too shabby....not that I was doing this for time.

One of the major challenges with the summer training so far is dealing with the heat and the sun. This morning offered some beautiful shade and breeze off the East River, which thankfully didn't seem to stink as much as it normally does. Still, the sun was baring down as we rounded the bottom of Roosevelt Island to head back to Astoria, with no shade to be found...whew!! There was the option to do more miles when we got back to Astoria Park, but I felt satisfied with what I accomplished today, and didn't feel the need to push my body past its limit. I never thought I could run 7.2 miles at all until I did the Half. This whole marathon thing doesn't seem as hard as it once did. We will get there!

This is a big fundraising week for me, as we need to raise $2K by Friday! As you can see, I'm almost there. Every little bit helps, though, so if you were thinking of contributing any amount, no matter how small, this would be an awesome week to do it.

After an incredible experience running the NYC Half Marathon in March with Team in Training, I decided to keep the momentum going and shoot for one of the biggest goals I've ever set for myself: running the ING NYC Marathon this November! I'm really excited, and also, a little nervous, as a first-time marathoner. I'm going to use this page to document my training progress, so please be sure to check back often!

For all of you that donated to and supported me during my journey to the half marathon, I want to say a huge, huge thanks from the bottom of my heart. I couldn't have crossed the finish line without your support. Thanks to you, I was able to raise $2,250 toward LLS's mission to cure blood cancers. Amazing!

The LLS's mission is one that is very close to my heart, and one that has touched my and my family's lives. Our dear friend Ray Block passed away of complications from lymphoma in November 2010. He was an amazing person, and we miss him everyday. As I did with the half, I will be running this race in his memory, in the hopes that the funds I raise can help find a cure for this terrible disease and that others do not lose their loved ones.

With an NYC Marathon finish line in my future, I hope I can count on your support this time around. I will also be holding some fun fundraising events with Dave (he's running the marathon too!) so hopefully I will see you at one of those. Stay tuned!

Until then, really, any little bit helps. Thank you so much for your support!

"Kelly, thank you so much for your support while my foot was injured (it still is but much better after seeing doctor Moser and I'm down for the Finishline moonwalk machine as well!). So now we can team up a "30-30 super girls" and rock the 26.2 in 4 weeks!
(p.s. share $5 bucks with Dave maybe, haha)"

Chen Chen

Tue Oct 11 11:57:09 EDT 2011

"go Kelly! This is in case I dont see
you tomorrow! I know you are
gona do just fine!
"

Elizabeth Dickman

Fri Oct 21 07:59:33 EDT 2011

"Go Kelly!!!"

Sarah Hollerman

Sat Oct 15 09:55:18 EDT 2011

"We plan to watch this event live!
We will need info on how to track
the two of you."

Barbara and Steve Henning

Tue Jul 12 04:19:03 EDT 2011

My Fundraising Total

Raised: $3,304.00 | Goal: $3,450.00

96
%

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